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The Village is a movement in Oakland, CA of unhoused and formally unhoused leaders and housed allies who assert housing is a human right and homelessness is not a crime. We use a diversity of tactics to reach these two goals: direct action and policy reform; direct service and support; leadership development and education; media work and advocacy; upgrading of curbside communities and improving the quality of life of the streets; adverse possession, purchasing private property, and occupying unused and neglected public land.

#NoVacancyCa!

#NoVacancyCa in Oakland started an all volunteer effort to immediate shelter unhoused seniors, families with children, and unsheltered with serious pre-existing medical conditions. Please keep our program going by sharinghttps://www.gofundme.com/f/hotels-not-graves with all your housed friends, neighbors, and family!

If you can comfortable survive during this pandemic, please consider using your funds towards shelter someone who may not survive this pandemic without a roof over their head and a shower to bathe daily.

During this Covid19 pandemic it is absolutely clear – housing isn’t just a basic human right, it is health care when we speak of the unhoused

Let’s be honest, this health crisis and the government’s response (or lack of one) is showing not only how deep the inequalities are in our society, but how deep anti-homeless, anti-Black and anti-poverty runs thru the decision makers and power brokers. Before the pandemic, The Village was in the trenches and the halls of power fighting for the basic right and need of housing – for all! And has taken an invisible virus to shine light how essential adequate shelter is for our unhoused brothers and sisters.

There are currently thousands of unsheltered people in Oakland, over 70% of whom are Black. The few hundred hotel rooms currently provided by Alameda County to house unsheltered folks who have tested positive or who are from very vulnerable demographics (seniors, immune compromised) are vastly insufficient to protect the lives of Oakland’ most vulnerabel residents and prevent the spread of Covid19.

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 hotel rooms remain empty and unused, while the City of Oakland has done nothing to secure even one hotel room for our unhoused neighbors.

As we wait for the city and county to take meaningful and scalable action on this crisis, unsheltered residents remain unable to properly protect themselves. Only after an encampment resident was tested positive for Covid19 were other exposed residents offered hotel rooms. Waiting until people get sick or die before offering shelter goes against all public health recommendations, is immoral and deepens the health dispartities in Oakland’s Black & Brown working class and poor communities.

The Village in Oakland, The East Oakland Collective and Love & Justice in The Streets are already movingunhoused seniors/immune compromised/families with children into hotel rooms. There is no time to waste!

The challenges and inequities aren’t going anywhere, and neither are we. But this is our time to make sure the needs of adequate shelter is met in times of crisis. You can literally save lives by donating to our GoFundMe. Your contribution will enable us move dozens of unhoused brothers and sisters off the streets and into hotels to Shelter in Place.

Click the link below to hear directly from people we have been able to shelter in hotels because of your donations. Thank you!

Our Goals

Provide immediate support and advocacy to our curbside residents including but not limited to hot meals, groceries, provisions, connecting folks to services and resources, encampment upgrades.

Develop curbside residents as leaders and advocates for the unsheltered.

Advocate and work on policies and legislation that decriminalize homelessness, protect the human and civil rights of curbside communities, hold government bodies accountable during this affordable housing crisis and homeless state of emergency.

Use and make replicable The Village housing model as a new form of Rapid Rehousing – both permanent and transitional.

Create Supportive Housing in a holistic way that will lead towards a path of self sufficency.

Create a path towards financial security with financial literacy, job training, job opportunities and opportunities to be part of worker owned collectives and collective home ownership.

In the beginning…

The idea is simple and as ancient as human history – it takes The Village. We are a network of seasoned community activists and organizers, artists, unhoused leaders, grassroots and non-profit leaders, family and friends, business people and housed allies who believe homelessness is not a crime, housing a human right and that we need to ensure home for all by any and all means. Since December 2016 up until this point we have been driven thru 100% volunteerism and 100% community donations.

Co-Founders of The Village: Feed The People

Co-Founders of The Village: Asians For Black Lives

The Village, East Oakland Collective, Love & Justice in The Streets, HAWG & United Nations Special Repautor on Adequate Housing at the 2nd Village

Student from Laney College Building Program at 2nd Village

Housed and and Unhoused Villagers Giving Thanks and Remembrance of Indigenous People (aka Thanksgiving) at the 3rd Village aka Housing & Dignity Village

Court Support for first Oakland curbside community to file a civil rights lawsuit and restraining order.

The Village started as a direct action that became a movement. We are now moving towards becoming a supported housing development and management agency, a non profit service provider, and a job opportunity program for our curbside residents. What will makes us different than the multitude of homeless non-profits in existence? Our approach is radical and innovative. It was informed by the current affordable housing crisis and homeless state of emergency we are experiencing and designed to help put an end to it.

We started off with a vision that was inspired by the audacity of Occupy/Decolonize Oakland and the healing powers of Standing Rock/Osechi Sakowin. We were driven by an urgency to immediately build emergency shelter and sportive services while City Hall ignored the growing crisis. It would be a radical and beautiful community labor of love that would pressure the buerocrats to DO SOMETHING. And that is exactly what we did.

Little did we know that years later we would still be building emergency homes, providing services, and pushing the beurocrats to do something humane and impactful. All while creating of a new model of temporary AND permanent rapid rehousing, employment and support services for curbside communities.

Palette Homes from The First Village aka The Promise Land, @Marcus Garvey Park January 20, 2017 – Feb 2, 2017

As our vision (and the political climate) becomes a reality, the depth and scope of work points to a need for sustainability. We are at a juncture – and have made a decision to establish a solid foundation so that housing security can be gained for generations to come from those in poverty to those struggling economically in The New Oakland.

The Bay Area is seeing an influx of wealth, housing and jobs like we’ve never seen. But none of this abundance is for Oakland’s generations deep working class and low income Black and POC communities. We realize only a community driven response will be the catalyst for immediate, alternative forms to permanent housing. We realize that creating stable, full and part time positions for curbside residents and couch surfers WHILE housing them is one of the best approaches to this crisis rooted in deep inequity.

wooden cabins from the 2nd Village aka Two Three Hunid Tent City in East Oakland from October 2017 – January 2019

Cob Home and medical tent at 3rd Village

Wooden Cabin from 2nd Village

outreach with community volunteers

Volunteer Building Team putting up walls

Eviction Defense that turned into temporary restraining order party at 3rd Village

Whether it be lack of job training, a deficit of local outreach to the Oaklanders, or discrimination – not having access to this wave of employment is directly linked to not having access to this inflated housing market. How can Oakland’s working class and lower income communities afford the raising cost of living if they cannot access the jobs that will support the new economic culture of their homeland?

Thru careful analysis of the economic climate coupled with extended surveys to the unsheltered, we realize that in order to achieve self-sufficiency and secure adequate permanent housing being players in a competitive job market is part of the solution to preventing and ending homelessness

As we build our future of stability, sanctuary and sustainability – we continue to remain in the trenches. We continue to provide food, provisions, advocacy, temporary upgraded housing, and education for Oakland’s curbside communities. We assert, ensure, protect, advocate and co-create basic needs and rights of Oakland residents who have fallen victim of the housing crisis and homeless state of emergency. Check out our Get Active! page to plug into our on going volunteer opportunities. Housed and Unhoused folks both encouraged to join and work side by side.

We continue to believe using a diversity of tactics to reach our goals is necessary in the current political, economic and historic moment we are in: direct action and policy reform; adverse possession and purchasing lands; reparations and self-determination; serve the unsheltered and self-governance of unsheltered. We assert housing is a human right, that there are enough public resources to house all Oakland residents, and that homelessness is not a crime.

#HousingIsAHumanRight #HomesForAll #HomelessnessIsNotACrime

News

“Nowhere Else to Go”: Housing and Dignity Village Encampment & Service Center Led by Unhoused Women of Color Faces Eviction FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oakland, CA – The City of Oakland has posted an eviction notice at Housing and Dignity Village (HDV), an encampment that shelters 13 unhoused Oakland residents of color in deep East Oakland. …

#HousingAndDignityVillage needs court support MONDAY 11/26 at 3 pm. Come through for a hearing in our case against Libby Schaaf and Joe DeVries, her czar of homelessness! The Village is arguing in federal court that the City of Oakland violates the constitutional rights of unhoused people – a win that could help thousands of unhoused …

U.N. REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON ADEQUATE HOUSING AS A COMPONENT OF THE RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING, AND ON THE RIGHT TO NON-DISCRIMINATION IN THIS CONTEXT Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms . Note …

Organizers of the First Annual Housing Oakland Now! Fundraiser’s Public Statement on The New Parish Former Owner’s Abuse of Homeless Residents

Oakland, CA — On June 24, 2018, 3-9 PM, The Village, The East Oakland Collective, Dellums Institute for Social Justice, Gina Madrid and Equipto will be hosting a star studded benefit concert as the first annual fundraiser for grassroots organizations The Village and The East Oakland Collective’s on the ground and in the trenches work. Both these organizations tirelessly advocate and serve on behalf of Oakland’s unhoused brothers and sisters to provide housing, address hunger, bring dignity and implement immediate and long term permanent solutions to Oakland’s housing and homelessness crisis. The event will be hosted at the popular venue, The New Parish.

Recent news stories and media have brought to light disturbing allegations against Jason Perkins, a former partner of Parish Entertainment Group, who controls The New Parish. The allegations against Jason Perkins are for the gross mistreatment of unhoused persons in San Francisco and Oakland — allegations that we demand be fully investigated by the proper authorities. These allegations are contrary to the work of The Village, The East Oakland Collective and Dellums Institute for Social Justice are doing to change the narrative on homelessness– efforts to share the many lived experiences of our unhoused brothers and sisters, eradicate the stereotypes on who is homeless and why people are unhoused, and ultimately decriminalize homelessness and frame it as a human rights crisis.

From the actions of Henry Sintay “Jogger Joe” at Lake Merritt to the allegations of Jason Perkins in San Francisco, now more than ever, is the time for community members to join us in changing the narrative on homelessness and unite against the mistreatment, stereotypes and criminalization of our unhoused brothers and sisters. After investigating and learning that Perkins is no longer with the New Parish, we decided not to move the first annual fundraiser from The New Parish venue, but instead ask the community to support this cause, join our efforts and most importantly, unite with us to change the narrative! We will pack the venue with our unhoused brothers and sisters, advocates, activists and community members– bringing our collective energy and demands to The New Parish.

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Housing Oakland Now! is the kick off campaign and first annual fundraiser for the collaboration between The Village and The East Oakland Collective. We organize housed and unhoused residents in Oakland to come together for the goal of implementing immediate emergency and long term permanent solutions to the housing and homeless crisis in Oakland. We overstand that that the agenda of gentrification has wrongfully used Oakland’s public resources to create the housing and homeless state of emergency and massive human rights violations. This agenda needs to end and public resources such as land, funds and labor must be used to house Oakland’s displaced Black and Brown poor and working class communities.

The Big Picture

We work in service and support with 30 curbside communities (aka homeless encampments)

We work in partnership with 6 curbside communities.

We promote mutual-aid (aka sharing) and unity building between curbside communities.

We build partnerships, alliances, and coalitions with other organizations to assert and ensure that our unsheltered brothers and sisters basic needs are met with respect and dignity.

We show solidarity and support with First Response efforts during crisis and evictions.

We engage in education, advocacy and policy work to decriminalize homelessness.

We defend and assert housing, shelter and safety is a human right that all should have access to.

We engage in direct action. We see that for curbside communities there is a thin line between survival, the right to exist and direct action. We assert that curbside communities have far more to lose in a direct action than housed communities. We believe it is the duty of our housed folks to join our curbside brothers and sisters on the direct action frontline.

We build emergency shelters, proved sanitation services, offer moral and material support, and engage in leadership development with curbside communities.

How Do we do this?

Our leadership is comprised of unhoused and formally unhoused residents.

We function in committees of volunteers.

We build and activate a broad base network of organizations and institutions.

We want immediate deeply affordable permanent housing with a wide array of supports and services. Because that is the only solution to this housing affordability crisis, to this homeless state of emergency, and to ensuring housing is a human right – not a privilege. And folks transitioning from the streets to indoors need support and healing to succeed in that journey.

We want training and jobs for Oakland’s working class and poor in these foodie, techie and hub industries. So much money is coming into Oakland for The New Oakland. But Oakland’s wealth of innovative, brilliant working class Black and Brown communities does not have access to this incoming flow of cash. That needs to change.

We want the people in power with money and resources making decisions that impact our lives to start developing towards a strong and stable future for The Town and stop giving away all our public resources towards building a New Oakland that isn’t here yet.

The Promise Land

The Bulldozing of The Promised Land

Feb 2, 2017

village founder needa bee comforts village resident mama nancy who was snatched out of her home and watched it bulldozed.

villahe volunteer rae sits with village resident mama nancy in the aftermath of the bulldozing. mama nancy and all the other 15 residents were displaced back on the streets, where they continue to live today

before shutting down the portapotty service the vilage organized comunity to pay for, the police used the service

community showed up as early as 6am in an attempt to block the eviction and demolition. but 80 violent cops in full riot gear and a bulldozer were n match for the 150 people there.

as community attempts to pack and slavage what they can, police take over the property

community watches as police and public works destroy the village

members of the community put their bodies on the line to defend the village. this brother is standing in defense of the health & wellness tent

what remains of the 24 hour kitchen

bear was not a resident but he is one of the hundreds of unsheltered folks who utilized the services provided at the village

police and public works swarmped the village. here they are standing around after yanking elders out of the homes community built.

how much of your tax dollars are being spent in this picture

community scrambled to collect materilas while the bulldozing happened…they may have tried to stop us but we had no intention of giving up

unfortunately the police and city administration on mayor do nt agree with this statement

a comunity member takes a break with her baby in the midst of the mayhem

community and residents trying to figure out where will the residents go now? sadly they all went back to the streets.

The First Village

Jan 20, 2017 – February 2, 2017

The First Village was located atMarcus Garvey Park in West Oakland. the Direct Action lasted for 13 days. From Jn 20, 2017 to Feb 2, 2017. we housed 16 residents who were chronicly homeless and addict. all 16 were sober during the two weeks we existed. we offered several services that were available free of charge and hundreds of curbside residents and housed residents in need utilize them. word of the village spread across curbside communities throughout Oakland and even Berkeley. Unsheltered folks called it “The Promised Land” because community activists and advocates kept promises to their unsheltered neighbors, unlike city officials

Palette Homes from The First Village aka The Promise Land, @Marcus Garvey Park January 20, 2017 – Feb 2, 2017

The first Village: The Promised Land at Marcus Garvey Park

1st village

Co-Founders of The Village: Asians For Black Lives

ABOUT #FEED THE PEOPLE

#FeedthePeople, a collective of Oakland residents and activists, including some currently or formerly homeless, has been distributing food and supplies to homeless encampments in the East Bay for over a year. Every Wednesday, volunteers share hot home cooked meals, much needed supplies, hugs and support to people living on the street. They also provide advocacy and support to folks on the streets when they are harassed by police and politicians.

ABOUT THE VILLAGE

Creating autonomous encampments on public and private land in Oakland. Providing those who have been displaced thru gentrification their basic needs and rights: housing, food, provisions, healing, and dignity. Using a diversity of tactics to reach our goals is necessary in the current political, economic and historic moment we are in: direct action and policy reform. adverse possession and purchasing lands. reparations and self-determination. serve the unsheltered and self-governance of the unsheltered.